Ella Boo Bella

Little Ms. Ella turned three over the weekend. It also snowed here. Both are equally shocking. Cold wet weather does allow for some good party throwing and crafting so that is what we have been up to. Ella having an October birthday in a house with a mama who adores Halloween ends up with a pretty creepy birthday bash. No, not Crappy! CREEPY.

This is the third year that Ella has had Southern Living's Chocolate Pumpkin Cake as her birthday yummy. It is so good and makes a very dramatic presentation. The recipe is HERE. The black cake stand which of course I purchased just for making this cake is HERE. The cake stands come in spectacular storage hat boxes just in case your tempted.
Due to the snow I had tender plants to bring inside. This is a large cast concrete bird bath basin filled with succullents from my garden. Instant centerpiece with the addition of a human skull.


The glittered spider and vulcher silhouettes admired our guests as they supped. I printed off silhouettes from google images and glued them to orange card stock. I then painted in the shape with glue and poured on the glitter. My pictures are not doing them justice as they are quite sparkly and alluring.

Our yearly goul or witch (changes each year) Neighbor Greeter was present to welcome our family, friends and fow. The foot traffic in front of our house increases dramatically after I put up something scary. Lots of kids come up and have a picture snapped or inspect our scary's. However, come Halloween night many of the same children cross the street when they come to our house. We have creepy music playing, rats creeping out of crevices ghosts lurking in the mist. Mostly I think it is the murderous screams that scare them off. Oh well...more candy for me.

What do you think of that playdough hook? Her normal nose just wasn't very witchy.

On the front porch I put my much loved Crow in my also much loved antique birdcage.
On Halloween night I light votives in the cage for a very spooky effect.

I managed to get one spooktacular skirt sewn for Soren. Ella's matching skirt is cut out and just needs to be sewn up. I used the same skirt pattern as this one HERE.
As a little crafty bonus I was able to make this banner for above the dining room buffet using left over scraps of Halloween fabric from the skirts and random bits. It was so fun to make. I mounted the fabric using photo mounting spray from a photography class I took a few years ago. The stuff worked great for sticking the fabric to the cardstock triangles. Addictive! Now I am all tuckered out and have caught a virus. I'll be back in a week or so.

For The Love Of Bias

I absolutely deplore the making of bias tape.
However, using it is a pure simple joy.

This little pinafore dress is "Siiri" from Ottobre 1/2009 slightly modified to use bias on every edge. I sewed my very skinny Ella, who is wearing a 4T, a size 98 with size 104 length. She is swimming in it! Darling easy to sew pattern. I have plans for another one but I will sew a size 92 with 98 length.

Oh back to the bias. Isn't it darling? I am in love with it's polka dotty crocheted goodness. I ordered it from here. It comes in several colors, stripes and florals. I used a little under 4 meters for Ella's dress. On the next one I sew I want to line it completely like this little number here.

I had a little help in finding the tunic dress and bias from the links above. Heather from Heatherty Featherty lead me the shops that sell both the bias and the tunic. I love Heathers clean aesthetic. Her simple style kind of gives my colorful crazy creative brain a light sweeping and organizing from time to time. Her sweet etsy shop is sadly empty at the moment but go take a peek at her sold items and you will see what I mean. On top of all that, I recently received a fun little package in the mail from Heather.

In doing some destashing of her fabric collection she was kind enough to send these turtles my way. That sweet little feathered fabric bag is what the fabric arrived in. Such a nice touch. Thank you Heather! My Miss Ella, having declared the feather bag hers, is now using it as a treasure sack for all her little bits. The turtles will soon be something sweet for her too.